Episcopal Church will cease to have Sunday worship attendance in 30 years, seminary pres. warns

From Christian Post-

A seminary president has warned The Episcopal Church's leadership that with the current rate of decline, they will cease to have any Sunday worship attendance in 30 years.

Kristine Stache, interim president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America-affiliated Wartburg Theological Seminary, gave a presentation Friday before the denomination's Executive Council.
Stache drew from the most recent parochial report data which found that, from 2008 to 2018, the denomination experienced a 24.9 percent decline in average Sunday attendance and a 17.5 percent decline in baptized members.

“It depicts a church that appears to be dying,” said Stache, as reported by Egan Millard of Episcopal News Service, labeling the statistics “very sobering.”

More here-

https://www.christianpost.com/news/episcopal-church-cease-to-have-sunday-worship-attendance-in-30-years-seminary-president-warns.html

The Episcopal Church will sell stock in companies profiting from the occupation

From RNS-

A Statement by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship’s Palestine Israel Network (EPF PIN) on Action by Executive Council re Resolution B016 (2018): Adopt Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Action on Israel/Palestine.

The Steering Committee of EPF PIN commends Executive Council for positive action on three Resolutions implementing the mandate from the 79th General Convention expressed in Resolution B016: Adopt Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s [ELCA] Action on Israel/Palestine.

Meeting in Montgomery, Alabama on Oct. 18 – 21, the Council voted to receive the June 2019 Report of its Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (CCSR) on resolution B016 and adopt the recommended Global Human Rights Screen (GHRS) with “criteria for the Israel//Palestine conflict.” The GHRS is modeled on the ELCA’s human rights screen and is consistent with policy adopted by General Convention or Executive Council over the last six decades. PIN lauds the clear criteria established by the GHRS for deciding if a corporation supports or benefits from denial of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). 

More here-

https://religionnews.com/2019/10/22/the-episcopal-church-will-sell-stock-in-companies-profiting-from-the-occupation/

Executive Council closes fall meeting with vote endorsing major ‘Way of Love’ expansion

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council concluded its four-day meeting here Oct. 21 with a series of votes that included an endorsement of plans for a dramatic expansion of Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Way of Love initiative, featuring plans for a major revival event in New York and a growing list of media projects.

Curry spoke to the purpose of those efforts during a weekend committee meeting and again before the vote of the full Executive Council on its final day. Sharing the message of the Way of Love more broadly will counter a strain of conservative Christianity that has strayed from the teachings of Jesus, he said, and the church affirming a Christian message of love “can be helpful for a proudly divided and polarized nation.”

“This is really how can we make – and this actually is evangelism – how can we make the way of Jesus, which is the way of love, a part of what it means to be a Christian in this particular culture,” Curry said.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/10/21/executive-council-closes-fall-meeting-with-vote-endorsing-major-way-of-love-expansion/

Executive Council gathers in Montgomery, Alabama, as city underscores theme of racial reconciliation

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council gathered here Oct. 18 for a four-day fall meeting with racial reconciliation as a central theme, amplified by this city known for its prominent place in the histories of both the Civil War and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The business sessions have been scheduled around a full-day pilgrimage on Oct. 19 that will include visits to the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, as well as a meeting with Bryan Stevenson, the death row attorney whose Equal Justice Initiative founded the two institutions in 2018 to tell the story of racial injustice and violence in the United States, from slavery to mass incarceration.

“It is the history of America, and this is important for us to remember,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said in his opening remarks Oct. 18 in a meeting room at the Embassy Suites Montgomery Hotel and Conference Center. “It’s not just a Southern story, and it’s not just a regional story.”

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/10/18/executive-council-gathers-in-montgomery-alabama-with-city-underscoring-theme-of-racial-reconciliation/

A summary of Executive Council resolutions

From ENS-

Linthicum Heights, Maryland] During its June 10-13 meeting here The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council adopted multiple resolutions that are summarized below.

Committee on Finance

* Establish Trust Fund 1197, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of San Joaquin for the benefit of Saint Paul’s, Bakersfield, for the Diocese of San Joaquin, California (FIN030).

* Establish Trust Fund 1198, Hunt Bequest-Kitchen STPAAS for St. Peter & All Saints Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Missouri (FIN031).

* Establish Trust Fund 1199, Hunt Bequest-Canterbury STPAAS for St. Peter & All Saints Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Missouri (FIN032).

* Establish Trust Fund 1200, Hunt Bequest-Food STPAAS for St. Peter & All Saints Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Missouri (FIN033).

* Establish Trust Fund 1201, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico (FIN034).

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/06/13/a-summary-of-executive-council-resolutions-11/

Council is ‘leading from the future as it emerges,’ mutual ministry review shows

From ENS-

The Executive Council is starting to lead The Episcopal Church toward the future using what is currently happening in the church and in the world, according to a recently completed mutual ministry review.

General Convention in 2015 called (via Resolution A004) for a cross section of council members to do such reviews on a regular basis. The reviews are not meant to be performance evaluations. Instead, they are designed for groups to reflect on their ministry together. A group of 12 council members, including the officers and the six people who formed a transitional executive committee of council between the 2015-2018 triennium and the current 2019-2021 triennium participated in the reviews in late 2016 and 2018.

The reviews are aimed at “looking at the present from the standpoint of the future,” said Matthew Sheep, who teaches management, organizational behavior and leadership at Illinois State University. Sheep, who facilitated both reviews, told the council during the opening session of its June 10-13 meeting here that the participants in the most recent review, which began in November 2018, are open to considering a number of “possible futures.”

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/06/10/council-is-leading-from-the-future-as-it-emerges-mutual-ministry-review-shows/?fbclid=IwAR3l-H5T1ZZPr-OJ4y-O-tUNl5vO4ggf95p85cZUBV0SF5Bkvge-mH4J-fs

A summary of Executive Council resolutions

From ENS-

During its Feb. 21-24 meeting here The Episcopal Church Executive Council adopted multiple resolutions that are summarized below.

Committee on Finance
* Establish Trust Fund 1194 as an investment account for St. Brendan’s Episcopal Church of Juneau, Alaska (FIN015).

* Extend its thanks to those who have included The Episcopal Church in their wills (FIN016).

* Recognize the “diligent and effective work” of its Investment Committee, thank for their service Michael Kerr, David Lorenzo Alvarez-Roldan, Bishop Clifton Daniel, Bishop Rodney Michel, Dena Frith Moore, B. Waring Partridge IV, Maibeth J. Porter and Ronald W. Radcliff, Jr. (FIN017).

* Thank retiring members of the Economic Justice Loan Committee Diane Aid, Kim Jackson, Bishop Rodney Michel (FIN018).

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/02/24/a-summary-of-executive-council-resolutions-10/

Executive Council passes budget, grants diocesan waivers, praises work of Episcopal Migration Ministries

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council, in its first meeting since the 79th General Convention, spent four days this week focused primarily on orientation, training, leadership appointments and relationship-building at a conference center in suburban Minneapolis.

This meeting was light on legislative business, but Executive Council, the church’s governing body during the three years between General Convention meetings, concluded the week by approving a handful of resolutions on financial matters, including the 2019 church budget, the House of Deputies president’s salary and diocesan assessment waivers for six dioceses.

Members of Executive Council also received briefings from church officers and staff members during the week, including a bleak assessment of the future of the church’s refugee resettlement work from the Rev. Charles Robertson, the presiding bishop’s canon for ministry beyond the Episcopal Church.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/10/19/executive-council-passes-budget-grants-diocesan-waivers-praises-work-of-episcopal-migration-ministries/

Executive Council meets in Minnesota, aims to link ‘local context’ to broader Jesus Movement

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council kicked off its first meeting since the 79^th General Convention on Oct. 15, gathering in a conference center in this Twin Cities suburb to begin discussing how to align church operations with the priorities and mandates established in July.

The 40 voting members of Executive Council and additional nonvoting members are a broad mix of races, ages, genders and places of origin. One example was Table 4, where Honduras Bishop Lloyd Allen from sat across from the Rev. Devon Anderson, rector at the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior, Minnesota. The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, House of Deputies president, lauded the group for its diversity – “more diverse than it was at last triennium, and I think God for that.”

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry opened the morning session at Oak Ridge Hotel & Conference Center by using a passage from the Gospel of John to set the tone for this four-day session: “I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus said during his Last Supper. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/10/15/executive-council-meets-in-minnesota-aims-to-link-local-context-to-broader-jesus-movement/

75 Days and Counting: Executive Council Opening Remarks

From The General Convention-

Good morning, and welcome to Austin! It’s 75 days until the first day of legislative business. Just in case you are keeping track. I am!

Since we met in January, I’ve had the privilege of meeting with and communicating with scores of deputies who are preparing for our time together at General Convention. Again this triennium, I am extraordinarily impressed with the commitment and focus of both new and returning deputies, and especially deputy legislative committee officers. As I announced when I appointed them in November, this group of officers is the youngest and most diverse ever to serve at General Convention. Forty-five percent are under the age of 50, 18% are people of color, and at least 15% identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

This House of Deputies will be the first in history to be majority female, and 52% of our legislative committee leaders will be women. Forty-two percent of the 852 deputies are first-time deputies. Twenty-four percent will be deputies for the second time, meaning that two-thirds of the deputies–66%–are new or relatively new. Only 7% of deputies are senior deputies, meaning they have served at seven or more conventions. Twenty-four percent of all deputies are people of color, and 53% are female.

I’m also grateful for the collegial and supportive work of so many members of the Presiding Bishop’s staff. As deputies prepare for convention, we are seeking information and advice from many staff members, and I have been delighted to establish and reestablish such collaborative, collegial working relationships between deputies and staff members.

More here-

https://houseofdeputies.org/2018/04/23/75-days-and-counting-executive-council-opening-remarks/

Task Force presents updated Safe Church Policies

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church’s decades-long process of refining its clergy discipline process will take a big logistical step forward this summer when an interactive website debuts. The site was developed with the hope of bringing a common understanding of the rules and helping clergy avoid getting into trouble and injuring others in the first place. 

The website is in the beta testing phase, and members of the church’s Executive Council have been invited to join that process. The site is designed to help Episcopalians navigate the church’s Title IV clergy disciplinary process (those canons can be found beginning on page 131 of the church’s Constitution and Canons here).

Council member Polly Getz, who has long-time experience as a chancellor at various levels of the church, explained to her colleagues April 21 that the website is the result of nearly two years of work by a subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons.
The project drew praise from three of the church’s leaders after it was presented to the council.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/04/24/new-interactive-website-aims-to-help-episcopalians-navigate-churchs-clergy-discipline-procedures/

Executive Council wraps up its triennial work, looks to General Convention

From ENS-

Tying up loose ends, moving the mission and ministry of the church forward and saying good-bye to half of its members, the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council on April 23 wrapped up its triennial work.

In its last official act of the 2016-2018 triennium, council spent 45 minutes in executive session, reviewing its work during the last three years.

At a news conference after council adjourned, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said council concluded its work “with laughter, a sense of joy and a sense of accomplishment.

“We got some stuff done. We faced some difficult issues. We faced them, we figured them out, we said our prayers and did some pretty darn good work,” he said.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/04/23/executive-council-wraps-up-its-triennial-work-looks-to-general-convention/

Executive Council awards Episcopal Church Evangelism Grants

From The Episcopal Church-

The Episcopal Church Executive Council, at its January meeting in Linthicum Heights, MD, approved the recipients of 15 Evangelism Grants, totaling $37,450.  The new Episcopal Evangelism Grants Program is designed to fund local and regional evangelism efforts in the Episcopal Church.

“This program will encourage our whole Church to share resources, catalyze imagination, and ultimately cultivate a network of evangelists who can learn from each other and connect with each other,” explained the Rev. Canon Susan Brown Snook, Chair of both the Episcopal Evangelism Grants Committee and the Executive Council Committee on Local Mission and Ministry.

The Episcopal Evangelism Grants program is coordinated by the Local Mission and Ministry Committee in collaboration with the Episcopal Church's Evangelism Initiatives Team.

“Evangelism isn’t some scary practice only ‘other’ Christians do,” said the Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, Presiding Bishop’s Canon for Evangelism, Reconciliation and Creation Care, and a member of the Grants Committee. “Evangelism is the heart of Christian life, and we hope this program will light a fire and connect Episcopalians who are creating unique, authentically Episcopal ways of seeking, naming and celebrating Jesus’ loving presence everywhere.”

More here-

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/executive-council-awards-episcopal-church-evangelism-grants

Oklahoma Episcopal bishop named to special council

From Oklahoma-

The leader of Oklahoma Episcopalians recently was elected to be part of a team representing the Episcopal Church USA on a prestigious council of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Rt. Rev. Edward J. Konieczny, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, was elected by the Episcopal Church USA's Executive Council to serve as its bishop member on the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC).

According to a news release from the denomination's public affairs office, the Anglican Consultative Council is one of the four instruments of communion in the Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is one of the 39 province members. The Episcopal Church USA is the American arm of the Anglican Communion.
More here-

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-episcopal-bishop-named-to-special-council/article/5581756

Council proposes balanced draft budget with $133.7 million price tag for next three years

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council on Jan. 24 approved a $133.7 million draft budget for the 2019-2021 triennium that is based on requiring Episcopal Church dioceses to contribute annually 15 percent of their operating income.

The budget, which is essentially balanced, with a small surplus of just $2,654, is far from final. It must eventually be approved by General Convention when it meets in Austin, Texas, July 5-13. It will no doubt undergo some changes between now and then.

The budget is based on an anticipated $133.7 million in revenue to pay for an equal amount in expenses. The triennial budget is up about $8.7 million from that approved by the 2015 meeting of General Convention for the current 2016-2018 triennium.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/01/24/council-proposes-balanced-draft-budget-with-133-7-million-price-tag-for-next-three-years/

It’s time to wrestle the church’s budget.

From Church Work-

When I started this blog in 2012, one of the first major topics was the Episcopal Church’s 2013-2015 budget. It had to be. That year the draft budget released for comment had math errors and accidentally cut almost all churchwide funding for Christian formation. It was a debacle.

The budget process worked. The math errors were corrected, the formation funding was restored. The Rev. Susan Brown Snook was elected to Executive Council from the floor of General Convention because the entire voting membership of the House of Deputies was grateful for her service. A priest, blogger, and former CPA, she helped a confused church figure out its finances.

Then there was the 2016-2018 budget cycle. It was a relief by comparison, but it was still a challenge. We were having an ecological crisis, yet there was almost no funding for creation care. We were having a crisis of church decline, yet there was not enough funding for new ministry development.

More here-

http://www.churchwork.com/its-time-to-wrestle-the-churchs-budget-deadline-wednesday/

The Episcopal Church’s Budget is a Dim Bulb

From Draughting Theology-

There was a movement afoot in the Episcopal Church.  For the first time in my recollection, people were genuinely excited about the E word: Evangelism.  We had a Presiding Bishop who was comfortable talking about Jesus.  A groundswell of support saw a $2.8 million budget amendment to fund evangelism, especially in the growing and heretofore under-served Latino population.  There were revivals planned.  A new Canon for Evangelism and Racial Reconciliation was hired.  One of the best church planting minds in the church came on board to serve as the Staff Officer for Church Planting Infrastructure.  It was looking like we might finally be living into the prayer we pray every Second Sunday after Epiphany, and taking our responsibility, having been “illumined by Word and Sacrament” to “shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth.”

Things were looking good, until the Executive Council met from October 18-21, 2017, and all the hope and good will came crashing to the ground.  The working budget for the next triennium (2019-2021) shows a 41% cut in evangelism spending.  This cut includes a full 1/3 cut in spending for new congregations from $3 million to $2 million and a cut in total Latino/Hispanic ministry spending of more than 45% from $1,219,400 to $558,000.  Meanwhile, as has been noted by several very learned practitioners, including church planter, Susan Snook, mission re-developer, Everett Lees, and Forward Movement Executive Director and discipleship guru, Scott Gunn, investment in the administrative side of things, has increased by close to $4 million in the Presiding Bishop’s office (a roughly 47% increase) and $5.25 million in Governance (nearly 38%).  All that, and there is still $40 million set aside to pay for operations, finance, and legal fees!

More here-

https://draughtingtheology.wordpress.com/2018/01/08/the-episcopal-churchs-budget-is-a-dim-bulb/

Executive Council ponders, debates next triennial General Convention budget

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council came face to face with the realities of the 2019-21 triennial budget during its fall meeting and pledged to share the burden of eventually bringing a balanced budget to 2018 meeting of General Convention.

There is an $8 million deficit in the current “working draft” of a budget which will eventually need the approval of the 2018 meeting of General Convention, the Rev. Mally Lloyd, a member of council’s Joint Standing Committee on Finances for Mission told the council. The gap between anticipated revenue and the spending asked for by the churchwide staff and council’s joint standing committees stood at just more than $12 million when FFM began its work at this meeting.

The gap comes even as anticipated income is nearly $3.7 million higher than that expected the 2016-18 triennial budget. Major sources of income include dioceses, an investment income draw, income from renting out space in the Church Center in Manhattan and a planned “annual appeal” beginning in 2018.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2017/10/21/executive-council-ponders-debates-next-triennial-general-convention-budget/

Church Seeks Bishop for ACC

From The Living Church-

Nominations are open through Nov. 20 for a bishop to serve on the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) to fill a slot left by the expired term of the Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas, Bishop of Connecticut.

The ACC is one of the four Instruments of Communion in the Anglican Communion. The role of the ACC is to enable cooperative work among the churches of the Anglican Communion.

The term is for three meetings of the ACC, which is generally nine years. The triennial meetings require a two-week commitment. The next ACC meeting is scheduled for 2019, at a location to be determined.

Among the requirements, the bishop must be a member of the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops.  A thorough knowledge of the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church is required, as well as familiarity with their governance structures.

More here-

http://livingchurch.org/2017/10/18/church-seeks-bishop-for-acc/

What would happen if Episcopalians and their church put Jesus at the center – really?

From ENS-

It would seem obvious that Episcopalians have Jesus at the center of their lives and that the Episcopal Church centers on Jesus. Yet, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry challenged the church’s Executive Council Oct. 18 to deeply reflect on whether the church and its members are truly answering the call of Christ during these times of challenges from outside and inside the church.

Curry’s remarks came during the opening session of council’s Oct. 18-21 meeting. The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies and Executive Council vice chair, joined him in that challenge. Council spent nearly 90 minutes listening to and discussing Curry’s challenge. The members and staff will continue that work Oct. 19, albeit from a different angle, in a session Jennings will lead on council committee reorganization.

Curry acknowledged that recently released data from the 2016 parochial reports from each congregation and diocese show that membership in the Episcopal Church continues to decline. The pace has slowed some, he said, but the trajectory remains downward. There were 6,473 domestic parishes and missions in 2016 compared with 6,510 in 2015. The number of baptized members who were active in 2016 was 1,745,156, compared with 1,779,335 in 2015.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2017/10/18/what-would-happen-if-episcopalians-and-their-church-put-jesus-at-the-center-really/